Just Outside of Nashville
by GleeFiction
Summary: Whilst being forced to spend the summer before her senior year at her grandmother's house in Tennessee, Quinn meets some very interesting people, one of them being a blond boy who just about steals her heart. Can Sam Evans really make her summer worthwhile? Can he make a place unknown to Quinn feel like home?


**Hi! I'm really excited to share this story as I've been working on it for quite a while!**

All _my life I've been told that the summer before my senior year will be the best time of my life. What a lie that's turning out to be. Instead of going to pool parties and hanging out with my friends all summer, I'm being forced to go and visit my Grandmother. Don't get me wrong, I like the woman, but I'm just not sure if I can handle 3 months of her constantly asking me questions like 'Do you have a boyfriend yet, Quinnie?' Or the ever pleasant 'Are you putting on weight?' The answer to both of them is no, Grandmother, I am still thin and single._

 _And to make matters worse, my mom brought her new boyfriend, Paul, along for the trip. I can't wait to see how this plays out, considering that my mom's relationships last about as long as Santana's flings._

 _Mark my words, Journal, this will be the worst summer of my life. I'll be surprised if I get through the whole 3 months without killing one of my family members, or worse, myself._

"Quinn!" Judy, Quinn's Mother, called out to get the girl's attention. "We're nearly there. Put that book away." She informed her once Quinn was looking at her.

Quinn huffed and threw her journal in her bag, she only had a few minutes of peace left before 3 months of constant annoyance. She turned her head away from her Mother and Paul giggling at each other with a roll of her eyes and looked out of the window. Tennessee was quite beautiful really, filled with luscious green fields and towering trees. When she thought of it, Quinn was grateful that Tennessee was full of places to explore and see, it would be her only solace this summer.

In just a few short minutes (too short, if you asked Quinn) they were pulling up to her Grandmothers large house. Quinn could see the woman waiting on the porch for the group to pull up. The second that Paul stopped the car Quinn's Grandmother, Lucille, ran to the car and pulled Quinn out of the car into a bone crushing hug.

"Hey, Grandma." Quinn said whilst being crushed.

"Quinnie!" Lucille squealed as she let Quinn go. "Oh, it's so good to see you! How's school? Do you have a boyfriend yet? Have you-"

"Let her breathe, Mom." Quinn heard Judy pipe up from behind her Grandmother.

Lucille turned to look at her daughter. "I'm just asking her some questions, Judy."

"We're here to relax, Mother, not for you to scrutinise Quinn."

The two started a squabble and Quinn just rolled her eyes at the two of them. It was shocking, really, how the relationship between her mother and her grandmother was very similar to Quinn and her own mother.

"Hey Paul," Quinn said loudly enough to get the attention of her feuding family members "will you help me with the bags please?" She said as she walked around to the back of the car.

"Yeah, sure!" Paul said as he jogged round to the back of the car, his voice full of enthusiasm. He and Quinn began to unload the bags when Lucille made her way over to them.

"Paul!" Lucille said in a happy tone as she walked around to the back of the car. Judy gave Paul a look as to say 'She's insane. Just go with it.'

"Hello. It's lovely to finally meet you!" Paul said as he stuck out his hand, waiting for Lucille to shake it, instead of shaking it though she knocked his hand out of the way and went in for a hug. Quinn stood behind the pair, silently chuckling to herself while unloading some of the bags. Lucille had always come on very strong, and Quinn was hoping, for her own Mothers sake, that it didn't scare Paul off.

After quite some time Lucille finally pulled away from the hug and rather loudly announced that dinner was almost ready, so they better hurry up with the bags.

Once she finished lugging her bags into the room she would be staying in, Quinn went downstairs to join everyone else for dinner.

Lucille's house was not small by any means. It had 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a rather large and well-kept garden. Everything in the house was grand, from the central staircase to the grand foyer. Walking into the dining room, Quinn set her eyes upon the impressive dark-oak oval table. Quinn had never liked the table, maybe it was because when she was a young girl she had hit her head off of it, causing her to have stitches near her hairline, maybe it was because it was another way for her grandmother to show off. Quinn couldn't make her mind up as to which one annoyed her more, the scar on her face or the fact that her Grandmother always carted her around like she was some sort of designer bag.

Sitting down across from Paul, Quinn joined hands with her mother and grandmother as they said grace. It was a normality in the Fabray household, and it wasn't any different at Lucille's house either. After they finished saying grace they all started eating their food. Quinn started counting the seconds in her head, seeing how long it would take her Grandmother to start terrorising Paul with questions. She got to 6 seconds of pure, blissful silence before Lucille piped up. Quinn and her Mother shared a look as to say 'here we go.'

After 30 minutes, (10 of which Quinn and her Mother sat with bored looks on their faces, waiting for everyone to finish) Lucille finally ran out of questions.

After helping her grandmother do the dishes Quinn decided it was time to call it a night. Claiming to Lucille that she was tired, (when really she just wanted to call Santana and Brittany to see if the start to their summers sucked as much) she stalked off to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed, quickly set her alarm clock for 7:00, and called Santana.

* * *

Quinn groaned. She really didn't feel like being audibly assaulted by her alarm clock this morning. All she wanted to do was lie in bed for a little while longer, 3 months longer to be exact, but Quinn knew that if she wasn't up and ready for breakfast in an hour her Grandmother would drag her out of bed.

Rolling over, Quinn turned off her alarm clock, silently relishing the quiet. After lying in bed for just a few minutes more she agonisingly peeled off the covers and pushed herself out of bed, heading straight towards the shower.

45 minutes after getting out of bed Quinn was ready to face the day, well, physically ready, part of her still wanted to go back to bed, but, regardless of how she felt, she knew that she had to interact with her family. Looking herself up and down in the mirror, double checking that her outfit looked nice, she was wearing a simple white sundress with her hair down and naturally curled, she nodded her head and walked downstairs.

When she reached the kitchen, Quinn found her Grandmother alone cooking breakfast for everyone.

"Hey, Grandma. Do you need some help?"

At Quinn's question Lucille grabbed her chest and sprung back in shock. "Oh, Quinnie, you scared the life out of me." She said, trying to control her breathing. "No thank you, Quinnie, I'm fine. Have a seat and try not to give me another heart attack." Lucille said as she turned back around and carried on cooking.

Quinn let out a small laugh and walked over to the table before sitting down. A few minutes later Judy and Paul walked into the kitchen and took their seats at the table.

"Good Morning, Quinn." Judy smiled at her daughter. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Hi, Mom. And yes I did thank you." She replied to her Mother. During their small interaction Paul had sat himself down rather close to Judy. "Hey, Paul." Quinn murmured as she rolled her eyes.

Before Paul could reply though, Lucille had brought the breakfast out. They all ate quickly and in relative silence, which Quinn was happy for since she wasn't in the mood for people.

"Quinnie," Lucille began "would you like to come into town with me today? I need to get some things for the party."

"What party?" Quinn asked

"Oh, did I not tell you over the phone?" Lucille asked, questioning herself more than Quinn. "I'm throwing a party on Sunday evening to celebrate all of you coming to stay."

Quinn knew that wasn't the reason. The real reason was for Lucille to show Quinn off to her all of her friends as her 'perfect' granddaughter.

"Oh, ok." Quinn replied glumly, she really didn't want her Grandmother to treat her like some prize-pony.

"Well, anyway, will you come into town with me today?" Lucille asked again.

"Yes, of course." Quinn replied with a fake smile, Judy wouldn't have been pleased if Quinn had turned her Grandmother down.

Lucille just smiled at Quinn and proceeded to clean up the table from breakfast.

* * *

Shortly after breakfast Lucille and Quinn got into the car to drive into town, Quinn thought that they could have just walked there considering it really wasn't that far away, but at Lucille's insistence Quinn got in the car and allowed her grandmother to drive. Quinn was excited to see the parts of Tennessee that her grandmother lived by, fascinated by what she would find.

The drive into town was short and before she knew it, Quinn and her grandmother already had bags of shopping in their arms.

"Oh Gosh!" Lucille cried as she dropped a shopping bag on the floor of the store they were in. Quinn bent down and picked it up for her.

"Quinnie dear, I think it would be best if we put these things in the car." Lucille said to Quinn, a flustered look on her face. Quinn just smiled and nodded in agreement, wanting her arms free. When they got to the car however, they realised that they had far too much shopping to fit in the car along with two people. Quinn took this opportunity to see if she could get away from her grandmother and explore for a while.

"Grandma, why don't you take the stuff back to the house and I'll pick up the rest." Quinn suggested to her grandmother.

"But however will you get home, Quinnie?" Lucille asked.

"I'll walk. It's still light and I know the house isn't that far away."

"Well, dear, you don't know the way, what if you get lost?" Lucille asked, looking worried.

"Then I'll ask for directions. The people here look friendly enough." Quinn assured Lucille. Lucille hesitated for a moment before handing her shopping list to Quinn.

"If you're not back in an hour I'm sending a search party." Lucille smiled and got in the car before driving home.

Quinn smiled and began walking to the stores she needed to go to. 30 minutes later, Quinn just had one more store to go to, looking around the town, she soon located the local grocery store, grabbing a basket as she entered. She began to scan the aisles for the things on Lucille's list, most of it being everyday items, and not long after she had entered the store, she was done, and went up to the register to pay.

"Hello Miss, how are you today?" The cashier, a middle aged woman with the name Julie on her name tag, asked Quinn politely.

"I'm very well, thank you." Quinn responded with a small smile.

"Say, are you Lucille Hayward's Granddaughter?" Julie asked, evidently knowing Quinn's grandmother well enough to elicit some kind of facial recognition.

"I am actually yes, my mother and I are down for the summer." Quinn responded

"Oh we all know, Darling, Lucille speaks your praises all the time!" Julie exclaimed, long finished scanning and bagging Quinn's groceries. "We sure are looking forward to Lucille's party on Sunday afternoon, that woman really knows how to throw together an event!" The cashier said with a wink. Quinn then paid and went to leave before realising that she didn't know the way back to her grandmother's house.

"Excuse me, I don't suppose you could point me in the direction of my grandmother's house, could you? I'm all mixed up as to where to go." Quinn said with a sweet smile.

The cashier stopped to think for a second before telling Quinn. "Well, you go right on- oh, hey, Sam!?" Julie exclaimed and Quinn whipped her head around to see who she was calling. By the door to what Quinn presumed was the back office, she saw a tall boy, probably her age, wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and a baseball cap that covered his disheveled hair.

"Hey, you ok?" The boy, Sam, Quinn assumed his name was, responded.

"Yeah, Honey." Julie answered him sweetly. "Look, I know that you've just finished your shift, but would you mind doing me one last favour?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"Would you mind escorting this young lady back to the Hayward residence? She's Lucille's granddaughter and has got her directions muddled."

Sam, who had only just noticed Quinn, agreed politely and both he and Quinn exited the store.

"Here, I'll take those, Julie will freak if she finds out I let a customer carry their own bags." Sam said, gesturing to the bags that Quinn was carrying, which she handed over to him with a simple thank you.

"So, you're the granddaughter from Ohio that Mrs Hayward has been talking about for the past few weeks?" Sam asked Quinn, trying to fill the silence as their walk began.

"I am - although I wasn't aware that she spoke about me." Quinn answered.

"Oh, yeah, all the time, it's been 'just you wait until you see her, Samuel, she'll knock your socks off she's so beautiful.'" Sam said, doing his best impression of Lucille. "I can't say she was lying either." Sam admitted quietly.

Quinn just blushed in response. "I'm Quinn by the way." She stated, realising that he had yet to know her name.

"I'm Sam, I'd shake your hand, but I'm kind of…" He trailed of, lifting his hands to show he was talking about the bags.

"It's fine" Quinn laughed. After a few minutes of walking in silence, she turned to Sam with a question. "So, what is it that you guys do around here for fun? I mean, this area is beautiful and everything, but I just can't see a lot to do - I mean, I've only been here for a day and it's already the most boring summer of my life."

"You're probably bored just because you don't know where to go to have fun yet." Sam answered her with a smile.

"Yet?" She questioned him.

"Of course you think it's boring so far, but just give it time and I promise you it will feel like home soon enough." He spoke proudly of his hometown. "This town tends to have that effect on people."

"Maybe" Quinn whispered.

Very soon they arrived at Quinn's grandmother's house, and as she took the bags off of Sam, she said her goodbye's. "Well, Sam, it was nice to meet you. See you around." She said with a quick wave.

"Yeah, I'll see you on Sunday afternoon." He smiled and waved back at her, then began to walk away.

"Wait," she stopped him. "you're coming on Sunday?"

"Of course I am, basically the whole town's invited, and now I know what the guest of honour looks like, I wouldn't miss it for the world." He replied before throwing her a wink, turning his back and walking away.

Maybe this summer wasn't going to be as boring as Quinn originally thought.

 **Thanks for the read (if you made it this far!) - let me know if you want more as I plan to make this a multi-chapter fic, and as always, drop a review of what you think! - GleeFiction**


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